Ive recently had the misfortune of having two encounters lately. The first one happened when my sister and I were on our way to the gun range. While at a stop light the driver in the car next to me looked like he opened the door and threw up. We found it funny for some reason and laughed. He didn't like that and bad words and gestures were exchanged between him and I. Not my brightest moment but I was ready to move on and put it past me. I guess he was not and proceeded to follow us about 3 miles to the gun range. We pull in and they had already closed. The guy gets out of his car and tries to confront me. I proceed to drive away.

He follows me on my way back to the highway when I noticed my fuel light was on. I decide to stop and get gas. Well I'm not willing to let this guy affect my ability to do anything so I decide to stop at a gas station on the way to the highway. I pull in to a pump and he pulls in to a stall. I'm pumping my gas and he walks up to me standing about 5 feet away. He then rants and raves while I stand there pumping gas not saying anything to him. When he is finished I tell him how stupid everything he said was. AGAIN not the smartest thing for me to do.

I have my pistol in the back seat of my SUV and im standing right in front of the door to the back seat pumping gas. At that point he starts to walk away then says out loud "F*ck it" and walks swiftly right up to me. I stand my ground not moving at all hands in the pockets of my hoodie. I was thinking to my self if he hits me he hits me and I will defend my self. I'm sure if we got in to a fight the law wouldn't care who started the violent confrontation but I would. The moment he gets one step away from me my sister sticks her arm out into his chest and says 'if you hit him i'll call the cops'. In that moment the situation was instantly defused. He said some more stupid things and made his way to his car. He drove off and I wrote down his license plate number.

In the end I know there are better ways of avoiding situations like this. I will take this experience and learn from it. There wont be a next time if I can avoid it.

Situation #2 - yay, lucky me. What I can say about this one is it was in no way my fault at all and at no point was I in the wrong nor did I encourage the escalation of this situation.

I was shopping with a friend that works at wal-mart on second shift. We get done and leave in seperate cars. It is 2 AM on a saturday night. I'm driving home when the light turns red. I'm sitting at this light getting ready to head east. I notice a car approaching from the south with its signal on to head east too. My light turns green and the car is still coming. The street has 3 lanes inside, outside and a merge/turn lane. I am in the outside lane. I'm driving through the intersection and notice that this guy isn't going to stop. I figured he would just turn into the merge/turn lane. WRONG, he turns into MY lane. I swerve and honk my horn. Then this guy rolls down his window and is yelling god knows what. I didn't roll down my window and just kept driving. He starts pacing me and hangs a BLUE bandana out of his window. Trying to scare me by showing me that he's in a gang or something. The funniest part is the car he was in was a RED chevy impala on 'dubs'. Anyway I just avoid this guy and take a long detour on my way home making sure he doesn't follow.

In this situation the end result was more desirable as no confrontation had a chance. There was no way I was getting out of my car especially since I didn't have my pistol with me and this 'gang' member could've had anything.

I know this is a long post but maybe this can help you avoid some confrontations. I can say, if I would've felt like my life or my sisters life was threatened I wouldn't be scared or hesitate to pull the trigger. Owning a weapon comes with the responsibility of knowing when to use it and not to use it. I think for the most part people who have concealed carry licenses are law abiding citizens and for that reason they are scared of the consequences of pulling the trigger. Besides the legal issues, you will have to live with taking another persons life for the rest of yours.

ve recently had the misfortune of having two encounters lately. The first one happened when my sister and I were on our way to the gun range. While at a stop light the driver in the car next to me looked like he opened the door and threw up. We found it funny for some reason and laughed. He didn't like that and bad words and gestures were exchanged between him and I. Not my brightest moment but I was ready to move on and put it past me. I guess he was not and proceeded to follow us about 3 miles to the gun range. We pull in and they had already closed. The guy gets out of his car and tries to confront me. I proceed to drive away.

He follows me on my way back to the highway when I noticed my fuel light was on. I decide to stop and get gas. Well I'm not willing to let this guy affect my ability to do anything so I decide to stop at a gas station on the way to the highway. I pull in to a pump and he pulls in to a stall. I'm pumping my gas and he walks up to me standing about 5 feet away. He then rants and raves while I stand there pumping gas not saying anything to him. When he is finished I tell him how stupid everything he said was. AGAIN not the smartest thing for me to do.

I have my pistol in the back seat of my SUV and im standing right in front of the door to the back seat pumping gas. At that point he starts to walk away then says out loud "F*ck it" and walks swiftly right up to me. I stand my ground not moving at all hands in the pockets of my hoodie. I was thinking to my self if he hits me he hits me and I will defend my self. I'm sure if we got in to a fight the law wouldn't care who started the violent confrontation but I would. The moment he gets one step away from me my sister sticks her arm out into his chest and says 'if you hit him i'll call the cops'. In that moment the situation was instantly defused. He said some more stupid things and made his way to his car. He drove off and I wrote down his license plate number.

In the end I know there are better ways of avoiding situations like this. I will take this experience and learn from it. There wont be a next time if I can avoid it.

Situation #2 - yay, lucky me. What I can say about this one is it was in no way my fault at all and at no point was I in the wrong nor did I encourage the escalation of this situation.

I was shopping with a friend that works at wal-mart on second shift. We get done and leave in seperate cars. It is 2 AM on a saturday night. I'm driving home when the light turns red. I'm sitting at this light getting ready to head east. I notice a car approaching from the south with its signal on to head east too. My light turns green and the car is still coming. The street has 3 lanes inside, outside and a merge/turn lane. I am in the outside lane. I'm driving through the intersection and notice that this guy isn't going to stop. I figured he would just turn into the merge/turn lane. WRONG, he turns into MY lane. I swerve and honk my horn. Then this guy rolls down his window and is yelling god knows what. I didn't roll down my window and just kept driving. He starts pacing me and hangs a BLUE bandana out of his window. Trying to scare me by showing me that he's in a gang or something. The funniest part is the car he was in was a RED chevy impala on 'dubs'. Anyway I just avoid this guy and take a long detour on my way home making sure he doesn't follow.

In this situation the end result was more desirable as no confrontation had a chance. There was no way I was getting out of my car especially since I didn't have my pistol with me and this 'gang' member could've had anything.

I know this is a long post but maybe this can help you avoid some confrontations. I can say, if I would've felt like my life or my sisters life was threatened I wouldn't be scared or hesitate to pull the trigger. Owning a weapon comes with the responsibility of knowing when to use it and not to use it. I think for the most part people who have concealed carry licenses are law abiding citizens and for that reason they are scared of the consequences of pulling the trigger. Besides the legal issues, you will have to live with taking another persons life for the rest of yours.

No offense, but if that's the way you handle your affairs, you shouldn't be carrying a weapon.

What I can say about this one is it was in no way my fault at all... nor did I encourage the escalation of this situation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maui19

...and honk my horn.

Hm. Unfortunately, whether or not you did something to escalate the situation depends on the other persons perspective, not yours.

__________________
Still happily answering to the call-sign Peetza.
---
The problem, as you so eloquently put it, is choice.
-The Architect
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He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose.
-Jim Eliott, paraphrasing Philip Henry.

I counted on some criticism. Like most human beings I am not perfect. All I can try to do is improve and learn each day.

You guys are entitled to your opinions. I don't have to justify my actions in either situation, just sharing my stories.

Back to the original post 'are you scared to pull the trigger?'. I will say that you should never pull your weapon on somebody unless you are ready to use it. If you pull it and don't use it your situation could go from bad to worse.

EDIT: Take out 'intend' and replaced with READY. Funny how one word can change the sentence. The new sentence has the meaning that I intended! No pun.

I will say that you should never pull your weapon on somebody unless you intend to use it. If you pull it and don't use it your situation could go from bad to worse.

No, you pull your weapon if you feel you or someone you wish to protect is threatened with grievous bodily harm. You don't have to use it, though. Command voice interactions can cause the BG to desist.

Since the vast majority of defensive gun usages are deterrent - the proposition in the quote is not supported empirically.

It doesn't matter if you are scared or not. Sometimes you don't have time to be scared, and sometimes you do.
What matters is that you don't shoot BECAUSE you're scared. It's ok to shoot someone to protect your ( or another's ) life. It's NOT ok to shoot someone because they scared you.

__________________
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And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

No, you pull your weapon if you feel you or someone you wish to protect is threatened with grievous bodily harm. You don't have to use it, though. Command voice interactions can cause the BG to desist.

Exactly. Pull your weapon if you feel you must, but if the guy says. "HOLY SH..!" and runs the other way at the sight of a gun, do you still shoot? Certainly not. I'm quite sure something along this line happens far more often than defensive shootings.

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Join the NRA/ILA
I am the weapon; my gun is a tool. It's regrettable that with some people those descriptors are reversed.

"You carry...Are you scared to pull the trigger?"
No. The decision should not be made lightly, but until "no" is the answer perhaps carrying should be put off.

__________________
Meriam Webster's: Main Entry: ci·vil·ian Pronunciation: \sə-ˈvil-yən also -ˈvi-yən\, Function: noun, Date: 14th century, 1: a specialist in Roman or modern civil law, 2 a: one not on active duty in the armed services or not on a police or firefighting force b: outsider 1, — civilian adjective

ive practiced to long on draw/shoot, its pretty much muscle memory now, if i have to draw the trigger is geting pulled.

__________________
There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

Having read CWiley's posts I reflect back on some of the "confrontations" of my life... Many of which were fist fights of which I rarely was the first to strike out. Many I won and several were losses. But I know for a fact that my mouth can and has gotten me in a lot of trouble, more times than it has gotten me out of trouble. Never once with a gun on my person or in my vehicle have I ever lipped off to another person.
One of the most scared moments of my life I was 18 and leaving work on a 30 minute lunch break. I was second car in the left turn lane and the guy in front of me sat thru 2 full green arrows... I gave a beep next time it turned green and he looked out his window at me. I told that ol' bearded guy to come the F on and go... He opened his door and I was ready to scrap and hopped my butt out only to see he was holding a quite large stainless revolver... right then and there I decided not only could this fella take as long as he like but to *TRY* to watch what I say to strangers...
Brent

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